Friday, July 23, 2004
Universal Studios China Canceled
Universal had hoped to get the park off the ground before Disney could open a second park in China. They both wanted them open before the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Not anymore:
Universal Studios has pulled the plug on a proposed theme park in China and laid off 30 employees who had been working on the project, a company spokesman said.
The fate of the theme park had been in doubt for months. Universal had plans to build a $1-billion theme park in Shanghai, but the venture, set to open in 2006, was never given approvals by the central government in China.
It also faced skepticism from Universal's new cost-conscious corporate parent, General Electric Co.
The layoffs leave Universal's theme park design group in Orlando, Fla., and Los Angeles with about 45 employees, down from more than 100 a year ago.
Those employees are Universal Creative (like Disney's Imagineers). Unlike the Imagineers, Creative employees are contracted for one job and when that job is over they are no longer employed by Universal. So this was to be expected for them. Most will likely be contracted for other Universal projects in the future.
